2/26/2014 - Ohio businesses feel effects of damaging cold

A severe cold snap that ripped through virtually all of the U.S. won't be forgotten anytime soon, as frigid temperatures blanketed the entire country, even in places where the mercury virtually never goes below the freezing point. And, unfortunately for many businessowners in the Buckeye State, they won't be able to stop thinking about the record- breaking cold either, mainly because of the property destruction it wreaked.

Many companies in Ohio wound up filing businessowners insurance claims in January, mainly because of water main breaks and pipes bursting due to them freezing, The Associated Press reported. For example, in the northern city of Elyria, more than a dozen water mains broke inside of two weeks. In fact, a nearby school had to shut down for a few days because of problems in the boiler room, preventing the building from being heated.

Dave Welch, commissioner of streets bridges and harbor for Toledo, told the AP that the various incidents that have occurred in Ohio's fourth-most populous city will cost $1 million.

"We haven't had to tow cars in I don't know how many years," said Welch.

The AP also indicated that more than 30 buildings at an Air Force Base near the city of Dayton witnessed water pipes bursting, all of which were believed to have been due to temperatures that fell below zero.

Between 1993 and 2012, insurers paid out nearly $28 billion in damage claims caused by winter storms, adjusting for inflation, based on data from Property Claims Service for Verisk Insurance Solutions.